150 Facts About Jefferson Davis

Jefferson F Davis was an American politician who served as the only president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865.

Jefferson Davis represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party before the American Civil War.

Jefferson Davis was the United States Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857.

Jefferson Davis became a cotton planter, building Brierfield Plantation in Mississippi on his brother Joseph's land and eventually owning as many as 113 slaves.

Jefferson Davis was appointed to the United States Senate in 1847, resigning to unsuccessfully run as governor of Mississippi.

Jefferson Davis resigned in 1861 when Mississippi seceded from the United States.

Immediately after the war, Jefferson Davis was often blamed for the Confederacy's defeat, but after his release from prison, the Lost Cause of the Confederacy movement considered him to be a hero.

Jefferson F Davis was the youngest of ten children of Jane and Samuel Emory Davis.

Jefferson Davis married Jane Cook, a woman of Scots-Irish descent whom he had met in South Carolina during his military service, in 1783.

In 1810, the Jefferson Davis family moved to Bayou Teche, Louisiana.

When Jefferson Davis was around five, he received a rudimentary education at a small schoolhouse near Woodville.

Jefferson Davis then attended the Wilkinson County Academy near Woodville for five years.

Joseph, who was 23 years older than Jefferson Davis, informally became his surrogate father.

Second Lieutenant Jefferson Davis was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment.

Jefferson Davis was accompanied by his personal servant James Pemberton, an enslaved African American whom he inherited from his father.

Jefferson Davis went to Mississippi on furlough in March 1832, missing the outbreak of the Black Hawk War, and returned to duty just before the Battle of Bad Axe, which ended the war.

When Black Hawk was captured, Jefferson Davis escorted him for detention in St Louis.

Jefferson Davis asked Taylor if he could marry Sarah, but Taylor refused.

Jefferson Davis was promoted to first lieutenant and deployed at Fort Gibson in Arkansas Territory.

Jefferson Davis returned to Mississippi where his brother Joseph had developed Davis Bend into Hurricane Plantation, which eventually had 1,700 acres of cultivated fields with over 300 slaves.

Jefferson Davis continued his correspondence with Sarah, and they agreed to marry with Taylor giving his reluctant assent.

For several years after Sarah's death, Jefferson Davis spent much of his time developing Brierfield.

Jefferson Davis made his first slave, James Pemberton, Brierfield's effective overseer, a position Pemberton held until his death around 1850.

Jefferson Davis continued his intellectual development by reading about politics, law and economics at the large library Joseph and his wife, Eliza, maintained at Hurricane Plantation.

Around this time, Jefferson Davis became increasingly engaged in politics, benefiting from his brother's mentorship and political influence.

Jefferson Davis became publicly involved in politics in 1840 when he attended a Democratic Party meeting in Vicksburg and served as a delegate to the party's state convention in Jackson; he served again in 1842.

One week before the state election in November 1843, he was chosen to be the Democratic candidate for the Mississippi House of Representatives for Warren County when the original candidate withdrew his nomination, though Jefferson Davis lost the election.

In early 1844, Jefferson Davis was chosen to serve as a delegate to the state convention again.

At the convention, Jefferson Davis was selected as one of Mississippi's six presidential electors for the 1844 presidential election.

Jefferson Davis preferred Calhoun because he championed Southern interests including the annexation of Texas, reduction of tariffs, and building naval defenses in southern ports.

In July 1845, Jefferson Davis became a candidate for the United States House of Representatives.

Jefferson Davis ran on a platform emphasizing a strict constructionist view of the constitution, states' rights, tariff reductions, and opposition to a national bank.

Jefferson Davis won the election and entered the 29th Congress.

Jefferson Davis opposed using federal monies for internal improvements, which he believed would undermine the autonomy of the states.

Jefferson Davis supported the American annexation of Oregon, but through peaceful compromise with Britain.

Jefferson Davis expressed his interest in joining the regiment if he was elected its colonel, and in the second round of elections in June 1846 he was chosen.

Jefferson Davis did not give up his position as a US Representative, but left a letter of resignation with his brother Joseph to submit when he thought it was appropriate.

Jefferson Davis was able to get his regiment armed with new percussion rifles instead of the smoothbore muskets used by other units.

President Polk approved their purchase as a political favor in return for Jefferson Davis marshalling enough votes to pass the Walker Tariff.

Jefferson Davis's regiment was assigned to the army of his former father-in-law, Zachary Taylor, in northeastern Mexico.

Jefferson Davis returned to Mexico and fought in the Battle of Buena Vista on February 22,1847.

Jefferson Davis was wounded in the heel during the fighting, but his actions stopped an attack by the Mexican forces that threatened to collapse the American line.

Jefferson Davis declined the appointment, arguing he could not directly command militia units because the US Constitution gives the power of appointing militia officers to the states, not the federal government.

Jefferson Davis took his seat in December 1847 and was made a regent of the Smithsonian Institution.

Jefferson Davis quickly established himself as an advocate of expanding slavery into the Western territories.

Jefferson Davis argued that because the territories were the common property of all the United States and lacked state sovereignty to ban slavery, slave owners had the equal right to settle them as any other citizens.

Jefferson Davis tried to amend the Oregon Bill to allow settlers to bring their slaves into Oregon Territory.

Jefferson Davis was reelected by the state legislature for another six-year term in the Senate.

Jefferson Davis turned down the offer, saying it was inconsistent with his duty as a senator.

When Calhoun died in the spring of 1850, Jefferson Davis became the senatorial spokesperson for the South.

Jefferson Davis was against the resolutions because he felt they would put the South at a political disadvantage.

Jefferson Davis opposed the admission of California as a free state without its first becoming a territory, asserting that a territorial government would give slaveowners the opportunity to colonize the region.

Jefferson Davis tried to extend the Missouri Compromise Line to allow slavery to expand to the Pacific Ocean.

Jefferson Davis stated that not allowing slavery into the new territories denied the political equality of Southerners, and threatened to undermine the balance of power between Northern and Southern states in the Senate.

Jefferson Davis accepted the nomination and resigned from the Senate, but Foote won the election by a slim margin.

Jefferson Davis turned down a reappointment to his Senate seat by outgoing Governor James Whitfield, settling in Brierfield for the next fifteen months.

Jefferson Davis remained politically active, attending the Democratic convention in January 1852 and campaigning for Democratic candidates Franklin Pierce and William R King during the presidential election of 1852.

Jefferson Davis championed a transcontinental railroad to the Pacific Ocean, arguing it was needed for national defense, and was entrusted with overseeing the Pacific Railroad Surveys to determine which of four possible routes was the best.

Jefferson Davis promoted the Gadsden Purchase of today's southern Arizona from Mexico, partly because he preferred a southern route for the new railroad.

Jefferson Davis presented the surveys' findings in 1855, but they failed to clarify the best route and sectional problems prevented any choice being made.

Jefferson Davis argued for the acquisition of Cuba from Spain, seeing it as an opportunity to add the island, a strategic military location and potential slave state.

Jefferson Davis suggested that the size of the regular army was too small and that its salaries were too meagre.

Jefferson Davis ended the manufacture of smoothbore muskets and shifted production to rifles, working to develop the tactics that accompany them.

Jefferson Davis oversaw the building of public works in Washington DC, including the initial construction of the Washington Aqueduct.

Jefferson Davis assisted in the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 by allowing President Pierce to endorse it before it came up for a vote.

Jefferson Davis supported it, but it was not accepted, in part because the leading Democrat in the North, Stephen Douglas, argued it did not represent the true will of the settlers in the territory.

Jefferson Davis spent the summer of 1858 in Portland, Maine recovering, and gave speeches in Maine, Boston, and New York, emphasizing the common heritage of all Americans and the importance of the constitution for defining the nation.

Jefferson Davis's speeches angered some states' rights supporters in the South, requiring him to clarify his comments when he returned to Mississippi.

Jefferson Davis said that he appreciated the benefits of Union, but acknowledged that it could be dissolved if states' rights were violated or one section of the country imposed its will on another.

In February 1860, Jefferson Davis presented a series of resolutions defining the relationship between the states under the constitution, including the assertion that Americans had a constitutional right to bring slaves into territories.

Jefferson Davis counselled moderation after the election, but South Carolina adopted an ordinance of secession on December 20,1860.

Mississippi seceded on January 9,1861, though Jefferson Davis stayed in Washington until he received official notification on January 21.

Jefferson Davis was chosen because of his political prominence, his military reputation, and his moderate approach to secession, which Confederate leaders thought might persuade undecided Southerners to support their cause.

Jefferson Davis had been hoping for a military command, but he committed himself fully to his new role.

On November 6,1861, Jefferson Davis was elected president for a six-year term.

Jefferson Davis preferred to avoid a crisis because the Confederacy needed time to organize its resources.

Jefferson Davis sent a commission to Washington to negotiate the evacuation of the forts, but President of the United States Lincoln refused to meet with it.

Jefferson Davis initially agreed with Walker, but changed his mind and allowed Polk to remain.

Jefferson Davis appointed General Albert Sidney Johnston, as commander of the Western Military Department that included much of Tennessee, Kentucky, western Mississippi, and Arkansas.

The commanders responsible for the defeat were Brigadier Generals Gideon Pillow and John B Floyd, political generals that Davis had been required to appoint.

When Beauregard then put himself on leave, Jefferson Davis replaced him with General Braxton Bragg.

Jefferson Davis replaced Secretary of War Benjamin, who had been scapegoated for the defeats, with George W Randolph.

Jefferson Davis kept Benjamin in the cabinet, making him secretary of state to replace Hunter, who had stepped down.

Jefferson Davis reminded Johnston that it was his duty to not let Richmond fall.

Jefferson Davis approved, suggesting that an attack could win Kentucky for the Confederacy and regain Tennessee, but he did not create a unified command.

Jefferson Davis formed a new department independent of Bragg under Major General Edmund Kirby Smith at Knoxville, Tennessee.

Jefferson Davis expected Johnston to relieve Bragg of his command, but Johnston refused.

Jefferson Davis saw this as attempt to destroy the South by inciting its enslaved people to revolt, declaring the proclamation "the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man".

Jefferson Davis requested a law that Union officers captured in Confederate states be delivered to state authorities and put on trial for inciting slave rebellion.

Jefferson Davis concentrated troops from across the south to counter the move, but Joseph Johnston did not stop the Union forces.

Jefferson Davis visited Bragg to address leadership problems in his army.

Jefferson Davis acknowledged that Bragg did not have the confidence of his subordinates but kept him in command.

Bragg resigned his command; Jefferson Davis replaced him with Joseph Johnston but retained Bragg as an informal chief of staff.

Jefferson Davis went to the scene and addressed the protesters, reminding them of their patriotic duty and promising them that he would get food.

Jefferson Davis then ordered them to disperse or he would command the soldiers to open fire; they dispersed.

In early 1864, Davis encouraged Joseph E Johnston to take action in Tennessee, but Johnston refused.

Jefferson Davis sent envoys to Hampton Roads for peace talks, but Lincoln refused to consider any offer that included an independent Confederacy.

Major General Patrick Cleburne sent a proposal in early 1864 to Jefferson Davis to enlist African Americans in the army.

Jefferson Davis initially suppressed it, but by the end of the year, he reconsidered and endorsed the idea.

Jefferson Davis wanted to cross the Mississippi River and continue the war, but his generals stated that they did not have the forces.

Jefferson Davis gave Johnston authorization to negotiate the surrender of his army, but Davis headed south to carry on the fight.

Jefferson Davis moved on, hoping to join Kirby Smith's army across the Mississippi.

Jefferson Davis tried to evade them, but was captured wearing a loose-sleeved cloak and covering his head with a black shawl, which gave rise to depictions of him in political cartoons fleeing in women's clothes.

Jefferson Davis had to work with the Confederate Congress quickly to create them.

Jefferson Davis worked with the Congress to bring military facilities in the South, which had been controlled by the states, under Confederate authority.

Jefferson Davis knew he needed to deploy military forces to defend the Confederacy as a whole and created a centralized army that could enlist volunteers directly.

When soldiers in the volunteer army seemed unwilling to re-enlist in 1862, Jefferson Davis instituted the first conscription in American history.

Jefferson Davis received authorization from Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus when needed.

Jefferson Davis was confident that most European nations' economic dependence on cotton from the South would quickly convince them to sign treaties with the Confederacy.

Jefferson Davis did not want an embargo on cotton, he wanted to make cotton available to European nations, but require them to acquire it by violating the blockade declared by the Union.

Jefferson Davis did not take executive action to create the needed financial structure for the Confederacy.

Jefferson Davis knew very little about public finance, largely deferring to Secretary of the Treasury Memminger.

Jefferson Davis had been arrested for complicity in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

Jefferson Davis remained under indictment until after Johnson's proclamation on Christmas 1868 granting amnesty and pardon to all participants in the rebellion.

Jefferson Davis was not able to retrieve his family from England until August 1870.

Jefferson Davis received numerous invitations to speak during this time, declining most.

Jefferson Davis became a life-time member of the Southern Historical Society, which was devoted to presenting the Lost Cause explanation of the Civil War.

Jefferson Davis avoided public disputes regarding blame, but consistently maintained he had done nothing wrong and had always upheld the Constitution.

The Panic of 1873 adversely affected the Carolina Life Company, and Jefferson Davis resigned in August 1873 when the directors merged the company over his objections.

Jefferson Davis went to Europe again in 1874 to seek opportunities to earn money, but was still not able to find any.

Jefferson Davis declined because Varina did not want to live in Texas, recommending Thomas S Gathright instead.

Jefferson Davis worked for an English company, the Mississippi Valley Society, to promote trade and European immigration.

Jefferson Davis returned to the United States while Varina stayed in England.

Jefferson Davis appealed, and the Mississippi supreme court found in his favor in 1878.

Jefferson Davis foreclosed on the Montgomerys, who were in default on their mortgage.

Jefferson Davis began dictating his memoirs, although they were never finished.

In 1886, Henry W Grady, an advocate for the New South, convinced Davis to lay the cornerstone for a monument to the Confederate dead in Montgomery, Alabama, and to attend the unveilings of statues memorializing Davis's friend Benjamin H Hill in Savannah and the Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene in Atlanta.

The tour was a triumph for Jefferson Davis and got extensive newspaper coverage, which emphasized national unity and the South's role as a permanent part of the United States.

At each stop along the way, large crowds came out to cheer Jefferson Davis, solidifying his image as an icon of the South and the Confederacy.

In October 1887, Jefferson Davis held his last tour, traveling to the Georgia State Fair in Macon, Georgia, for a grand reunion with Confederate veterans.

In November 1889, Jefferson Davis embarked on a steamboat in New Orleans in a cold rain, intending to visit his Brierfield plantation.

Jefferson Davis fell ill during the trip, but refused to send for a doctor.

Jefferson Davis's funeral was one of the largest held in the South; over 200,000 mourners were estimated to have attended.

Jefferson Davis was buried according to the Episcopal rites and a brief eulogy was pronounced by Bishop John Nicholas Galleher.

Varina decided that Jefferson Davis should be buried in Richmond, which she saw as the appropriate resting place for dead Confederate heroes.

In May 1893, Jefferson Davis's remains traveled from New Orleans to Richmond.

When Jefferson Davis was reburied, his children were reinterred on the site as Varina requested, and, when Varina died in 1906, she was buried beside him.

Jefferson Davis insisted that the states are sovereign, all powers of the federal government are granted by those states, the Constitution recognized the right of states to allow citizens to have slaves as property, and the federal government was obligated to defend encroachments upon this right.

Jefferson Davis stated that slavery does not need to be justified: it was sanctioned by religion and history.

Jefferson Davis claimed that African Americans were destined for bondage, and their enslavement was a civilizing blessing to them that brought economic and social good to everyone.

Jefferson Davis came to the role of commander in chief confident in his military abilities.

Jefferson Davis had graduated from West Point Military Academy, served in the regular army, and commanded troops in combat.

Jefferson Davis actively oversaw the military policy of the Confederacy and worked long hours attending to paperwork related to the organization, finance, and logistics needed to maintain the Confederate armies.

Some historians argue that Jefferson Davis's personality contributed to the defeat of the Confederacy.

Jefferson Davis quickly mobilized the Confederacy despite the South's focus on states' rights, and he stayed focused on gaining independence.

Jefferson Davis was a skilled orator who attempted to share the vision of national unity.

Jefferson Davis shared his message through newspapers, public speeches, and trips where he would meet with the public.

Jefferson Davis's policies sustained the Confederate armies through numerous campaigns, buoying Southern hopes for victory and undermining the North's will to continue the war.

Jefferson Davis's standing among white Southerners was at a low point at the end of the Civil War, but it rebounded after his release from prison.

Jefferson Davis's birthday was made a legal holiday in six Southern states.